Joseph Langham Dale 1833-1909
From Kingsclere, Hampshire, England to Kyneton, Victoria, Australia
Joseph Langham Dale Photo used with permission of family researcher, lljajkson84 - Ancestry
Joseph Langham Dale
Joseph Langham Dale is my third great uncle. He was born on February 26,1833, and was baptised on 05 April 1833, at Kingsclere, Hampshire, England to parents, Henry Dale and Mary Ann Stroud. 1
Australia
On 13 December 1851, Joseph, while on holidays from university, departed England, on the Duke of Wellington, as an unassisted passenger. He arrived at Port Jackson, which became known as Sydney, on 30 March 1852. On arrival, Joseph headed to the McIvor Diggings in Victoria. He immediately made his way to central Victoria, the area of the gold rush.
Heathcote
Joseph spent short periods of time in different places around Victoria, mostly near the goldfields. Eventually he settled in Heathcote, married, and opened up a drapery store business.
Marriage
On 03 April 1865, Joseph married Emily Cox, daughter of Richard and Mary Jane Cox, my 3x great grandparents. They married at She Oak, Heathcote, the home of the bride’s parents.
From McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser, 7 April, 1865, page 22
MARRIED
DALE - COX
On Monday, the 3rd instant, by the Rev. T. Budd, Joseph Langham Dale of Heathcote to Emily Jane, third daughter of Richard Cox also of Heathcote.
Disaster Strikes
On a wintry Saturday night in May, at about 11pm, Joseph’s drapery story burnt down, and was completely destroyed.
from: The McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser, (Heathcote, Vic: 1863-1918), Friday, 4 August, 1865, page 2 3
TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF DALE & CO’S DRAPERY ESTABLISHMENT BY FIRE
At half-past 11 o’clock on Saturday night last, as Mr. Ross was passing up High Street, Heathcote, in company with a friend, he saw smoke issuing from the shutters at Dale & Co’s shop.
He gave the alarm, and immediately afterwards, the flames burst through the front; some parties attempted an entrance at the back, but were met by such dense volumes of smoke and heat, that it was impossible to save anything except one bundle of womens’ stays.
The flames rushed out of the door as the man who rescued this item of the extensive and valuable stock on the premises, left it, and in hope of saving any portion of the stock immediately vanished, and the people turned their attention to the adjoining buildings, with a view to save them.
Fortunately, the night was calm, and a large number of willing hands on the spot. Mr. Moloney’s tinsmith shop was rushed for buckets. The owner handed to a supply equal to the demand, and water was soon lying in all directions, over the Shamrock Hotel, which is a wooden building; wet blankets were hung along the side of the hotel, and notwithstanding the intense heat, a number of men kept up the stream of water on the hotel and the cottage near the burning building.
The owners of water carts yoked up, and by the time the tanks were pumped out, the supply from the creek arrived, and a small force pump belonging to Mr. Hay, was brought into requisition, and pumping from a tub to which water was supplied by the carts, played upon the premises built by the late Mr. Dove, and this, together with the exertions of a number of men who kept up a good supply of water on the roof, saved the whole of these premises. It is impossible to speak in terms too full of praise of those who assisted to save the adjoining buildings, in fact, with a few exceptions, the whole crowd behaved like neighbours, who respect each other, and the attempt to save the property on each side of the burning building were conducted as systematically as a fire brigade, without an engine could have been.
Where so many worked well and steadily, it may appear invidious to name a few as especially deserving praise, still we cannot help paying a well merited compliment to those who submitted to a partial roasting and the destruction of their clothes in order to save the property of others.
Amongst the most active on the occasion were Mr. King the Irish comic singer, Mr. Moroney, and August, the Swedish painter; Mr. Mortimer, of the Oriental Bank, went into the work with a suit of black, and soon saw a chance of making himself useful by carrying a lot of flour out of danger, when this was finished, he went into the water carrying business, and he soon became covered with what may be called raw paste, but he stuck to the work well.
The orderly nature of the crowd gave the police an opportunity of assisting in preventing the fire from spreading, which they did, Constable Winters’ hat was blistered on his head, through his taking up an exposed position; but all worked well, and their efforts were successful, nothing could have saved any portion of the building in which the fire originated, or the stock, all that could have been done with even the best appliances, was done. The efforts of the people were backed by the weather, at the time the fire broke out it was perfectly calm, indeed had there been any wind at all from the Northward or Southward, the destruction would have great.
The building destroyed belonged to Mr. James Hay, and was let to Dale & Co; it was insured in the Australasian Insurance Office, for £500. The stock, which was valued at about £3,000, was insured in the Victoria, for £1,000 and with the Australian Alliance, for £1,000.
From the time the fire was discovered till the roof fell in, could not have exceeded twenty minutes, and in less than half an hour the Shamrock hotel was out of danger, and shortly after all fear of the destruction of Mrs. Dove’s place was removed. This is the first fire of any consequence which has happened at Heathcote.
Family
Joseph Langham Dale and Emily Cox had nine children, four boys and five girls, with the first being born about one year before the birth of their first child. 4
Joseph Henry Dale born at Heathcote in 1866
Marion Emily Dale born at Heatchcote in 1867
Edith Louisa Dale born at Heathcote in 1868
Charles Langham Dale born in 1880 at Heathcote
Lilian May Dale born at Bailieston, Victoria in 1884
Leslie Stroud Dale born at Kyneton in 1886
Harold Ledger Dale born at Kyneton in 1888
Vera Penelope Dale born at Kyneton in 1889
Myrtle Henrietta Dale born Kyneton in 1892
Focus on Business
From the birth places of his children, we can see that Joseph and Emily arrived in Kyneton, between 1884 and 1886, almost twenty years after the fire. It appears that after the fire, Joseph and his wife settled in both Albury and Bairnsdale for a short time. Perhaps they were searching for a place to start a new business.
Shortly after arriving in Kyneton, Joseph opened another drapery store there, and named it The Mutual Drapery Store. I found many advertisements in the newspapers about stock that was available. They were selling, fabrics, manchester, millinary, tailoring, dressmaking, and much more. To quote the newspaper item below “dainty trifles that pass for the head-dress of the softer sex are always a la mode”.
Joseph Langham Dale’s Mutual Drapery Store in about 1888
Photo used with permission of family researcher - lljajkson84
In 1900, The Weekly Times, known as the farmer’s newspaper, or sometimes as the country newspaper, published an article about Joseph Langham Dale’s Haberdashery business in Heathcote.
from: The Weekly Times, (Vic: 1884-1920), Friday 16 May 19025
MR J. L. DALE, DRAPER
“Eighteen years is the record of business life in Kyneton to which Mr J. L. Dale might, if he were that way inclined, point with pardonable pride. He is the proprietor of the establishment in Mollison Street, next the “Guardian” office, which bears the name of the Mutual Drapery Co., and a commodious and attractive shop it is. There everything may be found that can be expected in a general drapery and tailoring house. Mr Dale believes in giving his customers a varied choice and the assortment of goods and materials, ranging from the very lowest prices, ought to satisfy the most exacting shopper. A young lady, whose taste is unquestioned and whose skill in her art is considerable, superintends the millinery department, and, as a consequence, the dainty trifles that pass for the head-dress of the softer sex are always a la mode. Similar care and ability are shown in the dressmaking branch, which is presided over by a modiste of metropolitan experience, who undertakes to fit faultlessly, whatever figures are submitted to her practiced eye and fingers. Nor is mere man neglected. Clothing is made to order in the latest styles, at very reasonable prices, and mercery of all descriptions is kept in stock for the use of customers.”
Death of Joseph Langham Dale
Joseph Langham Dale died on 12 May 1909 at Kyneton, and was buried at the Kyneton Cemetery.6
from The Argus 14 May 1909.
On 12th May, at his late residence, “Norseman,” Kyneton, Joseph Langham, beloved husband of E. J. Dale, aged 75 years. [Argus, 14 May, 1909] 7
Obituary
from: The McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser (Heathcote, Vic": 1863-1918), Thursday, 20 May, 1909, page 2)8
We take the following message from Kyneton, which appeared in the Argus of Friday last, relative to a well known and respected former resident Mr. J.L. Dale. The death occurred on Wednesday night, of Mr. Joseph Langham Dale, of the Mutual Drapery Company, Mollison Street.Mr Dale, who was in his 75th year, was a colonist of 58 years. He was in Ballarat at the Eureka Stockade, and at McIvor when the historic goods escort robbery took place. He opened a drapery business in Heathcote in 1865, and since then had successful businesses in Albury and Bairnsdale and for the last 25 years in Kyneton.
Mr. Dale’s brother, Sir Langham Dale9, who was knighted for services in the cause of education at Cape Colony, pre-deceased him by nine years. Mr Dale leaves a widow and twelve children.
Mr. Dale carried on his drapery business at Heathcote for some years, in what is now Mr. Wood’s Beehive Store, and was well known and respected throughout the district. He was an excellent man of business.
He married Miss Emily Cox, daughter of the late Mr Richard Cox of She Oak, Murray Road. On receipt of the sad intelligence, Mr and Mrs. James Tranter of Heathcote, Mrs. Tranter being a being a sister of Mrs. Dale, and Mrs Arthur McLennan of Top Forest also a relative, left for Kyneton on Thursday last.
The friends of Mr Dale in this district will learn with regret his demise, and general sympathy will be felt for Mrs Dale and family in their bereavement. The funeral took place on Friday last, and as an evidence of the esteem in which the deceased was held was very largely attended, the Floral tributes being very numerous and choice.
Upwards of 70 telegrams and letters of condolence were received by Mrs. Dale and family.
Death of Emily Dale
Joseph Langham Dale’s wife Emily, died in 1943 at Kyneton, and was buried at the Kyneton cemetery with her husband.
Memorial
After the deaths of their parents, the children of Joseph Langham Dale and Emily Jane Cox paid for a stained glass window to be erected in St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Kyneton.
photo used with permission of family researcher lljajkson84 - Ancestry
This memorial of the Dale family dedicated
To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of
Joseph Langham Dale and Emily Dale
By their sons and daughters
St. Paul’s Anglican Church today - churchhistories.net.au
CERTIFICATE OF BAPTISM, Joseph Dale 05 April 1833, Kingsclere, Hampshire, England. Certificate No. 189
1865 ‘Family Notices’, The McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser (Heathcote, Vic. : 1863 - 1918), 7 April, p. 2. , viewed 01 Nov 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90361403
1865 ‘TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF DALE & CO’S DRAPERY ESTABLISHMENT BY FIRE!’, The McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser (Heathcote, Vic. : 1863 - 1918), 4 August, p. 2. (MORNING.), viewed 31 Oct 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90358644
Information about births of the children of Joseph Langham and Emily Dale is in family records held by Jennifer Jones.
1902 Mr. J.L. Dale, Draper, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), 17 May, p. 23. , viewed 31 Oct 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221229809
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/207377175/joseph_langham-dale: accessed October 31, 2025), memorial page for Joseph Langham Dale (26 Feb 1833–12 May 1909), Find a Grave Memorial ID 207377175, citing Kyneton Cemetery, Kyneton, Macedon Ranges Shire, Victoria, Australia; Maintained by Jan (contributor 48889245).
1909 ‘Obituary.’, The McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser (Heathcote, Vic. : 1863 - 1918), 20 May, p. 3. , viewed 31 Oct 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90268145
1909 ‘Obituary.’, The McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser (Heathcote, Vic. : 1863 - 1918), 20 May, p. 2. , viewed 07 Nov 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90268145
Such a beautiful memorial stained glass window! The description of the efforts to put out the drapery store fire illustrates how difficult it was to do so at that time.
The bit about Mr. Mortimer moving the flour and then getting wet during the drapery store fire made me laugh....the paste and how he stuck to it. The newspaper account of the fire was interesting to read.